SOUNDTRACK: "Smooth Sailin'" - Leon Bridges

Jared tripped over Vedder as he walked through the living room, reading paperwork. He sloshed some coffee over the edges of his mug and cursed loudly as it burned his fingers.

"Son of a bitch!" He glared at Vedder, who rolled onto his back.

In a smaller dog, it would have looked cute. But Vedder was basically a horse, which meant that when he rolled over it looked exactly like what a horse would look like on it's back. He just looked like a lump stuck on his back, thrashing around as he tried to flip over. His foot hit an end table as he stood up, sending the contents clattering to the floor. The noise echoed in the room. Vedder sulked over to Jared and licked his hand in an effort to apologize. Jared later realized it was because coffee was dripping off of his fingers. He snatched his hand away and glared at the dog again, this time less harshly.

"Kate! Come get your dog!" Jared shouted through the house.

Kate's head appeared out of Emma's office. "What's up?" she asked.

"First, your dog needs to find a better place to lounge," he growled, nudging Vedder away from him with his knee. "Second, I wanted to ask you about something. Come here for a second."

She walked into the hallway. "You know he likes to lay in the sun. What did you need?"

Jared cleared his throat. "I wanted to know if you'd be interested in coming with me to the London premiere of Suicide Squad," he asked.

Her jaw nearly dropped to the floor. He had never invited her to a formal event like that before. "Are you serious?" she asked apprehensively.

He nodded. "I think it's a perfect chance for you to see how this stuff really works."

"I don't have a passport to get there, for starters," she said.

"I took care of that already." She gave him a questioning look. "You'll need one to come see me in Japan, so I already got one made for you."

"Okay...second, I thought you'd want to keep me out of the public eye," she continued.

"I do. But this is a good opportunity to get a good image of you out to fans and the press. That way they'll be less likely to try anything," he explained. "Plus, you'll get to meet the cast. Hell, so will I, for the most part," he chuckled. "Come on. It'll be fun. Think of it as a little trip before Camp and before school starts back up again. We won't be able to go anywhere for a while since I'll be gone."

Kate tilted her head in thought. "I don't know if they can spare me, though," she replied.

"Dude, I'm the boss. I can take whomever I want, where ever I want, whenever I want. The perks of writing their paychecks," he smiled. "Come on Kate. You'll have fun. I'll show you London."

"What will I wear?" she asked.

"Alessandro has worked something up for me. He can do the same thing for you," Jared said. He could sense her unease so he looked into her eyes. "It will be fine. I've done hundreds of these things. You'll have fun."

Kate nodded reluctantly. "Okay, sure. But I'll be alone most of it, though. You'll be on the carpet doing interviews and all that."

"When I invite you, that means you'll be right next to me," he told her. "On the carpet. In the photos. When I sign, you'll have to stay back with Shayla, but you won't be far away."

This brightened her mood a bit. "Shayla's coming?"

He nodded. "This is too big of an event for Joie to manage on her own yet. And if you're coming, it's even more of a reason to have her there."

Kate smiled. "Okay, sure. What the hell."

Jared's face broke into a huge grin. "I'll let Alessandro know."

~~~

Two days later, Kate was standing in front of a rack of designer clothes with her name on it. Jared had told Alessandro about her coming with him to the premiere and he had overnighted multiple pieces from the new Fall/Winter collection and arranged for a seamstress to go along with them. Currently, she was wearing a fuzzy purple mini dress that made her look like a Muppet.

"What about that one?" Emma asked, seeing Kate's apprehensive face.

The teen followed the woman's finger across the room to an Oriental-styled turquoise mini dress with dark brown faux-fur cuffs at the elbows.

"It's a little short," Kate replied.

"Wear it with these?" Shayla suggested, holding up a pair of tights in a matching color.

"Jared is probably going to flip, not in a good way," Kate answered.

"Just put it on," Olivia insisted.

Kate sighed and stepped behind the clothing rack to change. She pulled the dress over her head, noting how soft it felt. It fit her thin frame easily and the tights covered her legs well. When she stepped out from behind the rack, the three other women smiled in unison.

"You look really good," Emma said. "Like better than the model who wore it on the runway."

Kate looked at herself in the mirror. The color set her eyes and hair off nicely. Her willowy frame was accentuated in all the right places and the tights made her legs look fantastic. She turned to examine her back when Jared came in. He stopped in the doorway at the top of the stairs and looked her up and down.

"This is what Alessandro sent?" he asked, coming down the three stairs and flipping through the clothing on the rack. His face was a mask as he looked at each garment.

"What do you think?" Kate asked, twirling in front of him.

He smiled. "I think you need shoes."

"So you like it?" Emma asked.

He nodded. "You'll fit in fine, Kate. Be sure to thank Alessandro for all of this."

"I will. Wait - 'all of this'? What does that mean?" she asked.

"He said you can keep it all," Jared answered.

Kate's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Thank him profusely."

She smiled. "But I'll never wear any of this stuff."

A chorus of "I'll take it!" came from the other three women in the room.

"There you go," Jared said. "Problem solved."

~~~

Kate sat back from the sign she had been painting and arched her back in an attempt to crack her aching spine. As she swiped her hand across her cheek, she left behind some lime green paint, adding to the other flourescent colors already on her person. When Jared had told her she'd be interning over the summer, she had hoped that meant she would get a little special treatment since she was his daughter. Instead, she had been put to work doing all of the manual labor. Since Santa Clarita's season had officially ended, she had all sorts of free time on her hands and the other employees were taking full advantage of it. And with Camp approaching quickly it was pretty much all hands on deck all the time.

Today, she was painting signs that would be hung around camp with lyrics to Mars songs. Kate realized that in the almost-year since she had moved in with Jared she had never seen the band play together. Once Suicide Squad came out, the band would jump into rehearsals for Camp and she was sure she'd see them then.

"They look great, Kate," Shayla said, coming back onto the patio with clean water and more paint.

Kate sighed. "Only about two more left to do," she said.

"Good. Then you can get started on these flower pots with me," Shayla smiled.

Kate groaned. "Don't you have other people who can help me?"

"They're finalizing orders and set up," Shayla said with an apologetic look. "It's just you and me for right now."

"Why doesn't he hire more people?" Kate asked. She picked up a fresh brush and dunked it in black paint.

Shayla shrugged. "That costs money," she chuckled. "And honestly, we don't usually need this much help on a daily basis. Camp is the biggest event we do all year now. But it doesn't make sense to hire people on for the three weeks we end up needing them."

Kate sighed. "It would help me," she grumbled.

Shayla smiled and started to paint flower pots with glow-in-the-dark paint. "Are you excited for Camp, at least?" she asked.

Kate shrugged. "I guess. I don't really know what to expect."

"Me either, to be honest," Shayla said. "Last year was kind of anything-goes because we were winging it. We've learned a few things since," she chuckled.

"I think I'm just worried about interactions with fans," Kate answered. "I'm helping with activities for my dad, Shannon, and Tomo. But I don't know how to talk to fans or what to do around them."

"Most of them will be cool," Shayla started. "But there are always people take it a little too far. I wouldn't worry too much. But for a lot of them, this is sort of like a dream-come-true moment. So they might be a little more forward than normal."

"I know. I just don't want to get mobbed. That time in Denver was scary enough," Kate said. "And it was only five people."

"The guys will protect you. Don't worry about that," Shayla assured her. "If nothing else, you can always walk away. If they follow you, find someone."

"Kate?" a tall, tan blond man appeared in the doorway.

"Yeah, that's me. What's up?" she asked, wiping her hands off.

"I'm Kyle, Shannon's drum tech. I was told you would know where the new heads were," Kyle said.

"They should be in the Hangar," she replied. "That's where I left them last."

Kyle shook his head. "I couldn't find them."

Kate sighed and stood up. "I'll be back," she told Shayla, leading the bearded man through the house.

Three hours later when everyone had gone home, Jared was sitting out by the pool stroking Vedder's head absentmindedly as he scrolled on an iPad. He looked up as Kate slumped into a chair next to him with an exhausted sigh.

"Long day?" he asked with a smirk.

She glared at him. "Don't you long day me," she grumbled. "I spent all day painting and building shit. I don't think my fingers will ever be a normal color again," she said, holding them out for him to see.

Several colors of paint were lodged in the cracks and crevices of her fingernails. "It'll do you good," he smiled, returning to his book. "Manual labor never hurt anyone." She didn't respond, instead scratching Vedder behind the ears as he strolled over to her. "You okay?" he asked.

She shifted in her chair, pulling one leg up against her chest. "I guess I'm just nervous about fans and what to do about them. They've been following me and commenting on my posts on my Instagram."

"What have you been posting?" he asked, putting his iPad on the wooden table next to him.

"Nothing revealing. Just stuff from Santa Clarita, a few pictures of me and Olivia at the beach last week, that type of stuff. I haven't posted anything about Camp or the house," she said.

Jared tilted his head. "What are they saying?"

"Just asking if I'll be at Camp, how I'm doing, commenting on the team, things like that," she answered. "It's nothing threatening. It's just...weird to know that many people are seeing my posts and are even aware of my existence."

"It is a strange feeling," he replied with a slight smile. "That's just how it is, though. That's the type of stuff I was trying to keep you from before."

She shook her head, suddenly understanding what Jared went through on a regular basis. "I guess it just takes some getting used to."

"It does. And I'd suggest just ignoring it. Respond to your friends, but just delete comments you don't like and block people if they're rude. That's what my staff does," he said. "Look, they're mostly harmless. I wouldn't worry about them."

"But what about at Camp? When I'll have to interact with them?" she asked.

"You treat them like normal people," he chuckled. "And if they get out of hand, someone will step on. Hell, if it makes you feel better, I'll have someone with you all the time."

Kate relaxed a little. "Yeah, okay."

"I promise it won't be as bad as you think," he said. "Last year I had a blast. It's a unique event."